1. Field
The invention is in the field of training aids and pool sticks for playing billiards.
2. State of the Art
Shooting billiards, or pool as it is commonly called, is a very popular pastime with people in this country and in other parts of the world. While there are many people who play pool as a leisure activity, pool requires a great deal of skill in order to play well as evidenced by the proficiency of professional pool players. A pool player must not only determine the correct angles at which to hit the billiard balls to go into a pocket sometimes including contacting the side bumpers, but must also aim the pool stick and stroke at the cue ball such that the tip of the pool stick contacts the cue ball in the intended spot such that the billiard balls go in the intended directions.
There are training aids available commercially for playing pool which help pool players aim their pool sticks so as to hit the cue ball at the correct angle, to determine at what angles to contact the other billiard balls, and at what angle the billiard balls must contact the side bumpers of the pool table for the billiard balls to go into the pockets. Such training aids include types which have movable mechanical pointers which pivot relative to one another to show incoming and outgoing shot angles, and types which are flat template sheets which are laid on the surface of the pool table indicating various angles at which to hit the balls.
While such training aids can assist a pool player in determining the correct angles at which to contact the balls and the side bumpers, the novice pool player is likely not to hit the balls as intended due to incorrect stroking of the pool stick at the cue ball. Such incorrect stroking can include rotating of the pool stick by the rearmost hand and wrist during the pool stroke such that the tip of the pool stick is rotating while contacting the cue ball. This applies rotational torque causing a slight spinning of such cue ball in a direction lateral to the intended direction of cue ball travel so as to send the cue ball slightly off the intended course of travel. Such rotation of the pool stick during a pool stroke also can result in the pool stick being aimed slightly off the intended direction and/or the tip of the pool stick contacting the cue ball at a point thereon not intended by the pool player such that the cue ball travels off course. While there is a need for a device which aids a pool player in improving his or her pool stroke including not rotating the pool stick during such pool stroke, applicant is not aware of any such billiards training devices.